Two Eyes For An Eye

A few posts back I mentioned that I avoid discography collections when it comes to buying records... so of course I'm here to post a discography collection that I picked up recently.

I'd been listening to bands like Sick Of It All, Agnostic Front and Cro-Mags for a couple of years before I truly got into hardcore. I started going to metal shows in Boston at the beginning of 1990, and over the next year, newer and more underground hardcore bands started to make their way into my periphery. By the time we were moving through 1991, I'd pushed a lot of metal aside and Boston Hardcore was my new personality. Bands like Kingpin and Dive were so important to what I was discovering for new bands at the time, but Eye For An Eye just seemed to be on another level. Boston loved that band, and went off the few times that I saw them at The Channel or Bunratty's. Because they were such a formative part of my entrance into the Boston hardcore scene, when Deathwish recently released a compilation 12 inch that contained the band's two 7 inches, it made it really hard to not pick one up... plus, I'm fairly certain that is me in the Bad Religion shirt off to the right, by Lloyd's foot, so that was another incentive to grab a copy.

When it was announced that Eye For An Eye were going to do a reunion show with Have Heart in Boston on July 20th, I was crushed. I had family plans for that day that I was not going to be able to get out of, and it was very disappointing to think that I was going to have to miss out on seeing the band that was so important to my true hardcore introduction. Thankfully, a few weeks before the Have Heart show, Eye For An Eye announced that they were going to be doing a smaller show the night before. Now that was a show that I could make! I might be exhausted for my nephew's wedding the following day, but it was a price that I would gladly pay.

I ended up connecting with my friend Pete that lives in Boston, and made plans to get some pizza before the show. The pizza place was just around the corner from the club, and as we were eating, all the dudes from EFAE came in and hung out with us. Kind of a funny moment with the guys from the band introducing themselves to me like I didn't just drive 120 miles to specifically see them. Fun times for sure. I was a bit anxious about the show and having to awkwardly hang out before the band started, but man, once they started their set with Signs Of The Pride, I was transported back in time. Band was so fucking good that night, and I'm very glad that I made the trip.

One more photo that I stole from the Eye For An Eye instagram page that shows how much fun those early 90's Eye For An Eye shows were, and includes a young and crew cut version of me peaking up over the guy climbing on the crowd.

The Return Of Fu Manchu

I keep having the best of intentions of getting back to posting regularly here on the blog, but time moves so fast these days that I blink and a week has gone by... being away for four days last weekend to see Metallica play a couple of shows did not help with my posting here either. Speaking of shows, I'll be seeing Fu Manchu play with Clutch next month, so let's get to their new record.

There is no bad time to listen to Fu Manchu, but summertime sets the perfect vibe. As soon as I gave their new record, The Return of Tomorrow, a listen, I was hooked on that fuzz. You know exactly what you are going to get with Fu Manchu. There are still a few Fu Manchu records that I haven't heard, but each one that I spin is just a blast... and this new one is no different. Perfect summer soundtrack.

It has been over 10 years since I last saw Fu Manchu play live. It was shortly after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the city went into total lockdown for a manhunt shortly after the show... so let's hope things are less dramatic when I see them next month.

Vinyl tends to look cheap these days with gross patterns, so it is always an unexpected surprise when it looks this good AND matches the cover art. More of this please. "Sky and Space" colored vinyl limited to 4,000.

Karate Is In The Ocean

There was a period in the early 2000's when my new dial up internet connection collided with my intense desire to find new music. I was hungry for something new and tools like Napster, WinMx and Soulseek gave me access to download full albums of bands that I was curious to check out. I was grabbing anything that I had the slightest interest in... nu metal, hip hop, rock and indie bands. It was kind of overwhelming as I was downloading multiple albums a day and ripping them to CD so that I could listen in the car and at work, and there was realistically no way that I was able to give any of it the time an attention it probably deserved. A few bands made a decent impact on me and stuck around, but for the most part there was a lot of stuff that just became a blur of background noise. During this time period, I downloaded a few albums from Modest Mouse and Karate... and at the time, none of them made much of an impression and those burned CDs that I'd made for them hit the trash and I forgot all about those bands. Earlier this year, a friend had me check out a Modest Mouse song and much to my surprise I found that I really liked the band and I could not get enough of them... and then in the midst of my Modest Mouse obsession, Ralf over at It All Comes Down To This put Karate back onto my radar.

I hadn't thought about Karate for probably 20 years. I really liked the Cherry Coke song that they had on the split with The Crownhate Ruin, but I remembered everything else that I'd checked out as being rather dull. With my new found appreciation for Modest Mouse, and inspired by Ralf's post, I figured that maybe I should check out Karate with older ears and an open mind. I went to Spotify and pulled up the album that Ralf had posted about, The Bed Is In The Ocean, and started listening. The first couple of songs had my attention, but once we started making our way through Diazapam, I found that I was really enjoying it. The more that I listened to these songs, the more I loved them. The songs are so laidback, but for some reason when I listen to this album I have to turn the volume way up. It's like there is a hidden power rumbling through the songs, and they just demand to be played loud. Honestly, I'm fucking floored by how much I love this record. I don't even know if I dare check out other Karate albums because this one is so perfect.

I could have picked up an original 1998 black vinyl pressing for a decent price, but that tri-colored reissue from 2022 looked too good to resist... and for only $18 on Discogs, the price was right as well.

A Moment In The 90's

There are a couple of things that I try to avoid when collecting records these days. No box sets and no discography compilations. At one time, I had the mentality that I needed it all, but these days, I don't need that taking up space on my shelves. It just seems like a waste to me if I already have the original records. When my buddy, Chris, gave me a heads up that there was a Shotmaker box set on the way last year, I thanked him for the info but said that my original vinyl had me covered and this wasn't something that I needed.

Okay, hear me out. I've been listening to a lot of mid 90's emo this year... Current, Native Nod, Policy of 3, and obviously repeat spins of Shotmaker. Because of this obsession, I started to rationalize it in my brain. "The packaing and vinyl looks great." "For a three LP box set, the price is actually reasonable." And finally, "I really fucking love Shotmaker."

With the nice looking black box, embossed with the Shotmaker name across the front, the three LPs where each band member gets a full size photo on the back cover sleeve, this is just a really nice package.

I would have liked a bit more history from the band in the booklet that comes with the box set. It is still really nice with plenty of photos and flyers, but I would have loved to hear the details on their experience and memories in writing, recording and traveling. Also, this three record set is somehow incomplete, and does not include the two songs from the split 7 inch with Watershed or the two songs from the HeartattaCk #10 and All The Presidents Men comps. Those four songs are crucial to the history of Shotmaker and it is a shame that they were missed.

The first record contains the Mouse Ear [Forget-Me-Not] LP and looks great on this transparent purple vinyl.

The second record in the set is for The Crayon Club LP on a good looking blue vinyl.

Finally, we get the two Shotmaker 7 inches and the songs from the split with Maximillian Colby combined on a 12 inch for the third LP on green.

500 pressed. Totally useless for me to buy, but record collecting is all about stupid pointless purchases, and I'm really happy to own this... plus it got the songs onto Spotify so I can listen to it whenever the mood strikes.

All You Embrace

One Step Closer has been an interesting band to follow. Their first EP, From Me To You, had a strong Have Heart vibe, but with each release the band has moved more and more into a more melodic direction. When they released their three song EP, Songs For The Willow, last year, I was feeling that I was probably done with the band. I really liked those songs, but I felt like they had pushed their sound as far as I was willing go with it.

I recently discovered Title Fight and have been listening to them a bunch this year, and they can lean into that melodic style that I never thought that I'd appreciate... but I've had a number of musical perspective changes in the past year, and that is one of them. So when I heard that One Step Closer had a new album on the way, I thought that if they went in the direction of their Wilkes-Barre home town heroes, Title Fight, then there was a chance that I might really enjoy it. I took the chance and ordered the record.

The thing is, I do kind of like this album. I wish that they had more of a harder edge, and didn't get poppy enough to remind me of Sum 41 at times, but I don't hate it. I don't expect it will be a favorite of the year, unless the new hardcore field continues to remain thin, but I do like to give this a spin every once in a while.

The packaging for All You Embrace, on the other hand is fantastic. The nice lyric booklet is nice and thick with some big photos and comments from the band about touring and recording. It is a nice touch. 500 pressed on blue, white and black swirl colored vinyl.

Spiritual Reaper

The problem with being late to discovering a band is finding that their older records carry a high price tag. As I've been going back into the Spiritual Cramp catalog, I'm finding it difficult to put together a decent collection for cheap. When I heard that they had a new split 7 inch coming out with White Reaper, I knew that I had to get it before prices jumped after it was sold out.

On this split, each band contributes one song which features the other band as a guest... so White Reaper contributes to the Spiritual Cramp song, and vice versa. I'm obviously here for the Spiritual Cramp song, but both sides of this record compliment each other nicely. I'm not sure that I'll be tracking down more from White Reaper, but their song here is kind of fun.

The clear vinyl pressing seemed to only be available in the Spiritual Cramp store, and is now sold out. White Reaper does have a "black ice" version still available, but do I want to collect both?

From Hell I Rise

Slayer released their last album, Repentless, back in 2015, and then played their "last" show in 2019. While I could see Tom Araya not doing anything outside of Slayer, it was not surprising when it was announced that Kerry King was putting together a new band. Honestly, I was skeptical. I felt that there was a good chance that this was going to fall on its face. When I saw that the Kerry King band had a new song available on Spotify, I decided to see how badly it missed the mark.

I was floored. The first song to be released, Idle Hands, fucking ripped. I did not expect this. Hearing that song and discovering that Mark Osegueda from Death Angel was doing vocals on the album, I was suddenly very fucking excited. I love Osegueda's voice with Death Angel, so if he was involved, I knew what to expect and hearing him alongside King's guitar work is a perfect match.

Time will tell how well this Kerry King record stack up against Slayer's last one, but right now I'm putting them on par with each other. I'm very happy with how this turned out... even though it is extremely lame to name your band after yourself. Seriously... you couldn't have come up with some clever band name using the word "king"? Kill The King? Hell's Kingdom? Sofa King Evil? Honestly, anything would have been better and more creative.

The L-Shaped Man

Those first few Ceremony records were some next level shit. They were so angry and abrasive, but you could see the band pushing boundaries and growing with each release. By the time the band dropped Zoo in 2012 I was losing interest and wished they would just stick more to the hardcore sounds that I liked. I didn't want more growth and trying different sounds... I just wanted the aggression. Zoo did grow on me, and I did end up really liking that record, but after that one, I was done. I did not care to see where the band went from there.

When The L-Shaped Man was released in 2015, it barely registered on my radar. I think that maybe my buddy, Doug, liked it, but it didn't seem like it was going to be for me. Nine years later, and a solid year after I started being turned on to different music in 2023, and this kind of music is very much going to fucking be for me.

I was hanging out and listening to Zoo earlier this year, and the time felt right to finally give Ceremony's next album a chance, and right out of the gates, I fucking loved it. I can certainly understand why I wouldn't have appreciated this back when it was released, but it fits into that different style of music that I've been craving lately. Sometimes you need to wait until the time is right.

When I was looking to buy a copy of the record, I found a tour pressing of the record available on Discogs for a decent price. The Discogs listing says that each one is "unique", with the singer hand drawing the shape on the front of each cover... but the shape is damn near identical to the original, so it isn't really as cool as it sounds.

Invincible Priest

Judas Priest keep on kicking. It has been a number of years since KK left the band, and then Glenn Tipton wasn't able to tour in recent years due to Parkinsons, so it was kind of a surprise when we heard that the band was working on a new album. I'm not sure how much longer they will be able to hold things together, but like AC/DC, I'll be there until the very end. The last Priest record, Firepower in 2018, was some solid heavy metal, and I didn't expect any less from Invincible Shield.

You know exactly what you are going to get with a modern Priest record. There are no surprises... the band just comes in and gives what's expected. It might be nice if they mixed it up a bit, and maybe brought in some of those 70's flares because that is my favorite era of the band, but that's fine... I'll take the full on metal attack. Invincible Shield may be very similar to Firepower and Redeemer of Souls but they still deliver the goods, so I'm not complaining. It is just great to still hear Halford and his band doing what they do.

It was difficult to decide which edition of the record that I wanted to pick up. The album coordinates the colored vinyl to the album cover... so the red vinyl has a cover that mostly uses red, while the blue vinyl has a cover that leans more into the blue color... same with the pink and the purple colored vinyl... and then there is the alternate cover art, or the holographic cover. Impressive packaging for sure. While I really wanted the pink vinyl version, the red vinyl was available at my local store, so I just grabbed that one.

California Cursed

I did not like Drain when I first heard them. California Cursed was about to drop and was getting a bunch of hype, so I checked a couple of songs but I was not feeling it at all. Based on what I'd heard, it reminded me of those chaotic metalcore bands from around 2000 like Drowningman, and I quickly put it in a bin marked TRASH. Sometimes my ears are dumb like that, because when I approached the second Drain album, Living Proof, with more of an open mind... I fucking loved that shit, and it was my favorite hardcore record last year.

I knew that I was going to have to go back and check California Cursed again, and give it a fair shake... and no surprise, I really like it. I still prefer Living Proof over it, but I've been spinning this first record a lot this year (finally).

When the time came to pick up this record, I remembered Marcus posting a good looking version a couple of years ago, and I set my sights on that one. I noticed that REV had a newer pressing available on baby blue, but for a few dollars more, I figured that I'd grab the clear and purple swirl vinyl off Discogs. So it was a shock (really? was it really a shock that seller had no idea what they were doing?) when I received the baby blue pressing. I ended up having to message them, and let them know that I could have bought this version from the label directly for a cheaper price. They did end up refunding part of my payment, but it just sucks when clowns can't list records correctly.

Dark Sky Freeway

I've been a big fan of Freeways since I first heard their demo back in 2017. At the time, I was just hoping that the band would continue releasing new material because they held such promise, and it would have been a tragedy to see them break up too soon. When I heard that they had their second album coming out this year, I could not have been more excited for it.

Freeways might be newer band out of Canada, but they nail that late 70's and New Wave Of British Heavy Metal rock vibe. With two 7 inches, and two albums under their belts, I don't know of anyone today that does it better. I just love the smooth hard rock sound of this band so much, and while I don't reach back to my 70's and hard rock collection very much right now, this second album from Freeways is getting plenty of attention.

Overseas shipping to make sure that I got my hands on the limited colored vinyl, but I love this band too much to care about insignificant things like money.

I'm not happy with this kind of gold vinyl, but the extras of the patch, sticker and postcard are a nice touch.

With each release, the band has had a limited patch included with their new record. I'll never do anything with these, but I'm excited to have all four of them.

Omega Wave

There was a time when Record Store Day was a big deal. I'd meet up early in the morning with my friend Jeff, and wait in line for the store to open. I would have a list of records that I was on the hunt for, and we would spend the entire day going from store to store and buying a ton of vinyl. It was an event... but those days are long gone. Record Store Day happened this year and I didn't even realize it until after it had passed. I was hanging out with Jeff shortly after RSD, and he asked if I'd picked up anything, and I had to look to see if I'd missed anything potentially interesting. There were a couple of records that caught my eye from Record Store Day, but there was only one that I needed to have.

Forbidden was a late 80's / early 90's thrash band. There first two records are absolute classics for me. There next two records were from the early 90's, and I had stopped listening to metal at that time, but when the band reunited and released Omega Wave in 2010, I didn't hesitate to check it out. There were a bunch of older thrash bands reigniting that spark around that time, and Forbidden jumped in to ride that revival. They did not disappoint. Omega Wave sounded like it could have been released 20 years earlier. Russ Anderson's voice was still amazing and Craig Locicero could still shred... it was a great comeback record. Somehow, I never bought the CD or the vinyl at that time, so I obviously needed it now.

I was buying a bunch of records in 2010, but for metal albums, CDs were still my primary focus. I clearly remember checking vinyl prices for Omega Wave at the time and thinking it was prices ridiculously high at $40, or whatever it was, and I was not going to spend that kind of money on a metal record. Add it to the pile of record regrets as that original pressing is currently listed on Discogs for over $300. That's okay, this Record Store Day reissue will get the job done.

400 pressed on red and blue splatter vinyl, and includes a special lyric insert with some history on the band and how the reunion came together.

Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath

The Gulch album was one of my favorite records that I discovered last year. It is abrasive and chaotic, and not something that I would have ever thought that I'd be interested in from a "modern" hardcore band... but Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress fucking floored me. I picked up the vinyl for that album earlier this year, and it didn't take too long before I was on the hunt for more from the band.

Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath was the first Gulch 7 inch back in 2018... and it was only released on black vinyl, and limited to 250 copies. I assuming that the band blew up at that point, as any additional pressings of the EP were bundled with the songs from their demo, and was released as a 10 inch, before finally landing on this one-sided 12 inch record.

I never would have expected that this band would have hit me as hard as they have, and this 12 inch delivers the same kind of intensity that I loved from their album. So good.

I wasn't concerned which version I owned for this, and scooped this 2021 pressing of the 12 inch on the sea blue swirl color.

Spiritual React

Back in 2017, Spiritual Cramp released their first 7 inch through React Records, and I straight up did not like it. I probably listened to one of the songs for about 10 seconds before I wrote it off as crap. I'd followed just about every React release for years, buying multiple copies of each one... but leading up to the Spiritual Cramp record, the label had slipped a bit and a few of the releases hadn't been very exciting for me, and I didn't give SC much of a chance.

Here we are, seven years later and suddenly I'm giving Spiritual Cramp the chance they deserve, and of course I'm fucking loving them. What I didn't understand about their sound back in 2017, is very much what I'm looking for in 2024. However, record prices today are not cheap, and checking the string of 7 inches the band has released over the years... well, it feels like they are all priced too high on Discogs. While I did find this red vinyl for the Mass Hysteria 7 inch at a good price, trying to get the more limited clear vinyl isn't happening as quick as I'd like. Man, I hate having to wait for someone to list records at a decent price. I don't have patience for that game.

350 pressed on red.

Clutch Collector's Series #3

I love the Clutch collector's series. The first two, Blast Tyrant and Robot Hive/Exodus, both were well done and looked fantastic... so when number three in the series was announced, of course I jumped in to order one.

After the first two records in the Collector's Series were released, it looked like the band was focusing more on those albums after the band started making the shift in their sound and take a more "rock" approach. I was hoping that we were going to get some of their earlier albums, but it was starting to look like that wasn't the direction the series was going to take... so I was completely stoked when it was announced that the next record in the series was the first Clutch full length album, Transnational Speedway League.

I know that some people tend to prefer the early records from Clutch, but I've never really spent much time with them. Outside of songs like A Shogun Named Marcus and Rats, I really didn't know anything from this album, so I was was excited to buy the vinyl and force myself to finally sit with it. These early records definitely have a more raw sound, and while I've always leaned more into their more recent straight forward rock stuff, I'm really starting to appreciate the 90's sound that Clutch had going on here as well.

As with all of the records in the Collector's Series, I really like the newly reimagined artwork, and the spot varnish in certain spots, and the foil letters on the back, really gives the cover dimension and really pop. The numbered and signed insert is a nice touch as well.

Yeah, I love this series. You can tell that Clutch care about the product that they are releasing and make sure that it is special. I'm hoping it continues.

Chain Of Death

Last year, I was excitd to check out the new album from the band Planet On A Chain. The singer had been in Tear It Up and Dead Nation, and since I love both of those bands, so I had high hopes for POAC... however, even though I liked the record, it didn't end up exciting me as much as I thought it would. Still, when preorders went up at Revelation for the follow up album, Culture Of Death, I still quickly grabbed one.

I'm not sure what it is, but this POAC record is hitting me harder than the last one. I hadn't listened to it until I started to write up this blog post, but it had an immediate impact on me, and I was looking forward to giving it another spin. Maybe it's my mindset, and my ears want to hear something hard and fast like this right now, but Culture Of Death has me hooked from the start and I want more of it.

While the Boxed In record had a straight forward hardcore look, Culture Of Death goes for something a bit different. From the death metal font, to King Kong ripping the roof off the building, and the black, magenta and yellow colorway on the cover... this record has more of a creative look... and while I really liked the front cover for Boxed In, I'm digging the different look for this one as well. 330 pressed on a color vinyl that makes a nice attempt to match the cover.

Good News For People Who Love Modest Mouse

Back in the early to mid 2000's, I was searching for music that was new and interesting to me. I'd fallen out of the hardcore scene a bit and was feeling a bit lost, so I was downloading anything that might catch my attention... and that included a lot of hip hop, 70's and indie rock bands... some of it hit the mark, but a lot of it was disposable and I didn't stick with it much longer than two or three spins of the burned CDR that I'd made for my car stereo. One of the bands that I was checking out at that time was Modest Mouse. There was something about them that I found interesting, but I think that I was just consuming so much new music at the time that it was overwhelming, and I never really gave them much of a chance.

So while I'd never really given Modest Mouse much of chance back in the 2000's, as we were closing out 2023, my friend Sarah shared the song Dramamine with me. I'd never heard that song before, but it was a perfect fit for the musical headspace I was in at the time. I sat with that one song for a few months before I started to really crave more from the band, and then I started to dig out more and more songs from them. Soon Modest Mouse became a full on obsession, and there was not a day throughout April and May that I was not listening to something from the band.

Because sometimes it is all about the timing, but as my Modest Mouse obsession was ramping up, I noticed that there was a 20th anniversary edition of Good News For People Who Love Bad News that was due to be released in the coming weeks... and holy shit, it looked fucking nice.

From the new design on the front cover, to the colored vinyl, and lyric booklet... this was just so pleasing to my eyes that I couldn't pass it up.

Also as luck would have it, Modest Mouse are playing a live show with The Pixies in New Hampshire this month. I don't know anyone else that would have been interested to seeing them, so I would have to go to the show by myself, and that felt a little weird. Like, I have no problem going to small hardcore shows alone, because once the music starts and I've got my place in front of the stage to sing along and get jumped on, being there by myself doesn't matter. But a big concert, with assigned seating... I dunno, it just felt weird to think about going to that by myself. In the end I just said "fuck it", and I'm gonna be weird. I bought my ticket and can't wait to see the band perform some of my favorite songs this year live.

Loyal To 90's Straight Edge

In the early 90's, I picked up an album that was released on Crucial Response for an Italian straight edge band named Think Twice. They actually toured the US and I saw them open a show in Boston for Kingpin. It always seemed kind of cool that was able to catch the band live as it didn't seem that European bands made it over to the States very often at that time. That Think Twice album received plenty of time on the stereo back in the day, but it isn't something that I reach for often these days, but I do have a bit of nostalgia wrapped up in it with those vocals and the Italian accent.

When I was picking up the Man Will Surrender and Deepwater records, I saw this Think Twice 7 inch from the seller as well. I didn't even know that Think Twice had released a 7 inch record... I thought that the LP was all they did... so I added it to the cart as well.

Look, this 7 inch isn't going to blow the minds of anyone checking it out, especially in 2024, but as a slice of early 90's straight edge hardcore, this is fucking fun.